Kyiv says it foiled plot to kill Zelensky: DW

Ukraine's State Security Service (SBU) said it had caught Russian agents within the Ukrainian state guard service who were plotting to kill President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and other senior government officials, DW reports.

 

"Counterintelligence and SBU investigators thwarted the FSB's (Russia's security service) plans to eliminate the president of Ukraine and other representatives of the top military and political leadership," the SBU said on Telegram.

 

A statement said that two colonels in the State Guard of Ukraine, which protects top officials, were arrested on suspicion of being involved in the plan.

 

Both were recruited to the service before Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022, according to the statement.

 

SBU chief Vasyl Maliuk was quoted as saying that the planned assassination was meant to be "a gift" for Russian President Vladimir Putin on the occasion of his auguration to a fifth term on May 7.

 

Zelenskyy said in 2022 there had been at least 10 attempts to assassinate him

 

The announcement comes a few days after Zelenskyy sacked Ilya Vityuk, the head of the SBU's cybersecurity department, amid allegations of corruption.